The present invention relates to ornamental articles, such as Christmas tree ornaments or the like, which comprise a wholly or partially transparent housing, preferably a hollow ball-shaped housing, containing one or a number of ornamental objects visible through one or more walls of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,128 to Kubilius discloses such a Christmas ornament having a hollow ball-shaped housing formed by an opaque hollow hemispherical housing member and a transparent hollow hemispherical housing member held together by prongs or the like in confronting relation along a vertical juncture plane. The opaque housing member contains a putty-like body which holds a vertically oriented photograph visible through the transparent housing member. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a personalized Christmas ornament and a kit for making the same which has a greater attractiveness and appeal than that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,128.
Other examples of Christmas ornaments or the like having a transparent housing in which one or more ornamental objects are mounted is shown in French Pat. No. 1,191,427, granted Oct. 20, 1959, West German Pat. No. 937,008, granted Dec. 29, 1955, and West German Pat. No. 850,793 granted Sept. 29, 1952. The ornamental articles disclosed in the German patents are Christmas tree ornaments with transparent ball-shaped housings with ornamental objects supported by the bottom or upper extremities of the housing. The ornament disclosed in the French patent has a transparent cylindrical-shaped housing supported on a horizontal support surface and contains an ornamental figurine and background scene. Another object of the invention is to provide an ornamental article and a kit for making the same where the ornament has a housing preferably of a ball-like configuration and containing a photograph, figurines or the like, can serve as a Christmas tree hung ornament or one supported on a horizontal support surface, and constitutes an improvement over the ornamental articles disclosed in all of said patents in that it forms a more attractive ornamental article and/or can be more quickly and easily assembled from inexpensive kit-forming parts into a rugged attractive ornament.